Over the last decade or so the property (real estate) market in the Ilfracombe area of North Devon, England has certainly seen a boom and explosion in prices. What was once a relatively cheap area of England to buy property, has changed to a much dearer one in proportion. There are several reasons for this besides the general increase in the price of the housing stock of the UK as whole, fuelled by cheap, easy to obtain mortgages and low interest rates.



Firstly there is the holiday home factor, many people have purchased a weekend cottage for their own personal use and with the increase in short breaks taken by the population as a whole, other apartments (flats) and houses have been converted for the short term rental market. In fact it appears that this sort of self catering vacation has become more popular than hotel breaks, as the number of hotels In Ilfracombe has reduced over the years. The unfortunate side effect of this is that many properties remain empty for most of the year.

Secondly, many of our older citizens have retired to the Ilfracombe area to take advantage of the beautiful scenery, relaxed way of living and the mild climate. New purpose built apartment blocks and properties specifically for the senior citizens have been built and old hotels and guest houses have been converted for this purpose alone. Generally this has been achieved with remarkable sympathy to the surroundings ensuring no monstrous eyesores have been allowed to be constructed in between the quaint Victorian terraces or cottages of Ilfracombe.

Thirdly, the buy to let property market has certainly responded to the influx of east Europeans that have descended on the area to work in the lowly paid jobs of the Ilfracombe tourist and north Devon farming industries, which local people seem to shun. Bed sits and small apartments to rent long term are quite difficult to find and the standard is quite poor.

The commercial property market in Ilfracombe is oddly enough at the opposite end of the scale, high street shops and offices are on offer at unbelievably low prices or rental rates. In fact the town centre reminds me of many town centres of forty or fifty years ago, lots of small businesses from a bygone era, which is not necessarily a bad thing.